Time of flight analysis of pulsating aurora electrons, considering wave‐particle interactions with propagating whistler mode waves

Abstract

We propose a model for the energy dispersion of electron precipitation associated with pulsating auroras, considering the wave‐particle interactions with propagating whistler mode waves from the equator. Since the resonant energy depends on the magnetic latitude, the pitch angle scattering of different energy electrons can occur continuously along the field line. Considering the energy‐dependent path length and the precipitation start time of the precipitating electrons, the transit time of whistler mode waves, and the frequency drift, we calculated the precipitation of electrons observed at the topside ionosphere. Note that higher energy electrons precipitate into the ionosphere of the opposite hemisphere earlier than lower energy electrons. As a result, an energy dispersion of precipitating electrons is observed at the topside ionosphere, even though the modulation of low energy electrons occurs prior to that of high energy electrons. Using the model, we conducted a time‐of‐flight (TOF) analysis of precipitating electrons observed by the REIMEI satellite, assuming an interaction with the whistler mode chorus rising tone. Our TOF analysis suggests that the modulation region of the pitch angle scattering is near the magnetic equator, whereas previous models expected that the modulation region is far from the magnetic equator. The estimated parameters, such as wave‐frequency and latitudinal distribution of the modulation region, are consistent with previous statistical studies of whistler waves at the magnetosphere.